Carey Mulligan: 'An Education role changed my career'

The Shame actress confessed that most people did not know who she was before the 2009 film, which centres on 16-year-old Jenny (Mulligan), whose life is changed after meeting an older man played by Peter Sarsgaard.

"We didn't really expect anybody to see An Education, and not that many people really did, it just became, sort of, a thing. I mean, I'd been working for five years before that but in television and theatre and little parts in films, but that was such a small film we didn't really know anything was going to happen," Mulligan explained in an interview with Little White Lies.

"And then all that stuff kind of happened and it was all a bit sort of overwhelming. It was very strange. But it all kind of happened in America, which I think made a difference because it felt like… I've done talk shows in America where I haven't been scared at all because it feels removed in a way. I feel like it's even more of putting on a character because it's in America so it doesn't sort of apply to my life... It feels like stuff has changed in America but not in England."

Mulligan went on to credit An Education for allowing her the opportunity to pursue "darker" roles, such as her parts in Shame and Drive.

"[Director] Nicolas Winding Refn has not seen any of my work apart from my work in Drive. Ever. His wife had seen An Education and she said that he should give me the job. He loves his wife and she's awesome so he gave me the job. So if it hadn't been for that film getting publicity or awards or whatever, then I wouldn't have got Drive," Mulligan said.

"I certainly didn't expect Steve McQueen to give me this job [in Shame], you know? And that's something that wouldn't have happened two years ago. Because I read it and I thought that it would have been given to someone sexier and grittier. You know, darker in a way, and I'd done lots of comfortable characters."

Mulligan added: "Never Let Me Go was quite dark, but it felt middle class in a way. I felt like I just kept on veering towards those roles and I wanted to do something so vastly different from what I'd done before and had it not been for all that stuff with An Education then I definitely wouldn't have got it."